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We're getting a new house, and I've been presented bids for adding a water softener (and carbon filter), and for epoxy-ing the garage floor. For comparison, what have you seen/paid for the same services? FWIW, the house is in Cedar Park, and is a 4/3.5.

The water softener will be installed by tapping into the main line into the house; the builder did not include the 'softener loop'. The yard sprinkler will not be softened. EDIT: In other words, they will need to trench the yard to install it.

The epoxy is for a three car garage, and includes the 'traction chips'.

You should pay between $3.75 and $4.00/ft for epoxy in your garage. Not sure who you got the bid from. You should look up Garage Experts of Central Texas they are the only manufacturer/installer in the Austin marketplace. They have a solid reputation and will provide referrals. Done great work for several people I know in the area

I don't want to mention who it's from (I believe there's a favor involved somewhere in the deal, and I don't want to set low price expectations for them), but it's definitely less than that.

I got the bids from a concierge service through the builder, and wanted to make sure I wasn't getting shafted. I should be getting multiple bids on everything, but I've got a house to pack, another to close on, and a serious allergy to salespeople.

Honestly, we're in Cedar Park and I just don't see a need for a water softener. A lot of people installed the loop (at a pretty penny, I might add) through our builders and have never installed the softener. I'm assuming your water will be close to ours, and we have no problems with soap foaming up or spots on glasses and we've been there for two years. We definitely found other places to spend that money with a new build!

We're getting a new house, and I've been presented bids for adding a water softener (and carbon filter), and for epoxy-ing the garage floor. For comparison, what have you seen/paid for the same services? FWIW, the house is in Cedar Park, and is a 4/3.5.

The water softener will be installed by tapping into the main line into the house; the builder did not include the 'softener loop'. The yard sprinkler will not be softened. EDIT: In other words, they will need to trench the yard to install it.

The epoxy is for a three car garage, and includes the 'traction chips'.

Thanks for any replies!

Just a couple of thoughts...A) I'd love to have a chance at a new garage floor to epoxy. Darned near impossible to spend more than $3-400 for materials unless you go with something crazy. Fortunately, ours was epoxy'd almost 7 years ago when the house was new. Small spots are failing and I don't look forward to a 're-do'.

2) Do they really have to trench the yard to install a softener? Seems they should be able to connect where the main enters the structure. We had a loop originally so our install was a bit easier.

Just a couple of thoughts...A) I'd love to have a chance at a new garage floor to epoxy. Darned near impossible to spend more than $3-400 for materials unless you go with something crazy. Fortunately, ours was epoxy'd almost 7 years ago when the house was new. Small spots are failing and I don't look forward to a 're-do'.

We're paying about 2-3 times that, which seems like a good price.

Quote:

2) Do they really have to trench the yard to install a softener? Seems they should be able to connect where the main enters the structure. We had a loop originally so our install was a bit easier.

Apparently so. I'm not sure why they have to connect at the meter, but I've seen comments about it elsewhere.

Just FYI. I am extremely un-handy and expoxied my garage floor by myself. The materials cost about $400 but it looks great works as planned. Costco sells the material. You can also buy more directly from the vendor for a 3 car garage. They have videos and everything. Very easy to do.

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